A message to our followers on Facebook.

A big thank
you to everyone who has commented on media coverage about the possible
introduction of an admissions charge at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It
is encouraging to all of us who work here that you care!

Many of you
have expressed concern that a £5 charge would make the garden too expensive to
visit, especially at time when everyone is feeling the pinch. Others commented the
charge would be perfectly reasonable for such a world class garden.

Let me first
reassure you that there are no immediate plans to introduce admission charges
at the Edinburgh Garden. This is a
matter for Scottish Ministers to decide and their position has always been that
they prefer the Garden to be free in order to provide access to all – something
we fully support.

At Benmore,
Dawyck and Logan Botanic Gardens we have always charged for admission and those
gardens also have dedicated local supporters.
What many people who live close to those Gardens chose to do is to
become Friends. An annual payment of £41
for family membership includes admission to all our Gardens (and the
Glasshouses in Edinburgh) and some other great gardens all year round. Concessions are available and Friends enjoy
many other benefits including the Botanics Magazine and discounts in the shops,
restaurants and on courses. Most
importantly, for many of our Friends, they feel they are supporting our
important work and putting something back into a place that they and their
families have loved for generations.

It costs £12
million a year to run the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh including our
research, education and conservation projects (which are, for example,
restoring Scotland’s rarest plants back into the wild). At present £8.8 million comes from the
Scottish Government and the balance from our commercial and fundraising
activities. Of course, we are not immune
to the cuts in public expenditure that are a hot topic at present. We have been asked to plan for scenarios
including a reduction of 25% in our public funding. That’s a huge challenge but
our top priority is to keep one of Scotland’s internationally respected
institutions up there as one of the world’s leading scientific botanic gardens.